Change has been the only constant since the spring of 2020, and we take a look at how retailers have adjusted and plan to adjust going into 2022.
We’ll bring to you easily digestible snippets of our findings from a large, eye-catching glossy Fall 2021 Winning with Fresh: Grocers share their thoughts on the state of the industry, by Janice M. Kresin.
The Packer — with its retail counterpart, PMG — teamed up with the National Grocers Association during the fall of 2021 to determine the state of the industry.
Target audiences included chain grocers, independent grocers and produce wholesalers. Data were collected from July 29 through August 20 using a hybrid approach of email invitations and phone interviews. The survey was hosted in the Key Survey platform. Resulting responses were cleaned, and analysis was conducted on 160 completed surveys.
The goal of our study was to focus on revenue trends and supply chain issues during the COVID-19 pandemic over the past 18 months. The survey queried grocers and wholesalers to gauge their insights into these issues, as well as addressing consumer behaviors, specifically with regard to fresh produce.
As far as what operations to input the most energy, grocers are prioritizing health and safety precautions for consumers the most, followed closely by company’s online presence. Wholesalers, which don’t face the general public, are focusing most on supply chain management, then consumer health and safety precautions and online presence.
Other report findings include:
- 83% of respondents said their shoppers purchased more nutritious foods, like fruits and vegetables, over the past 18 months;
- 86% of grocers said that they noticed shoppers taking fewer trips to the supermarket overall. However, when they did, shoppers spent more;
- Nearly 9 in 10 respondents (87%) said that shoppers had a larger spend per trip than they did pre-pandemic;
- 93% of grocers overall said they made the move to curbside pickup.
